People Power…..A Different World?......‘Darwin’s Warm Little Pond’….
by Bernie Bell - 09:20 on 28 January 2024
People Power….
To quote Robert MacFarlane on Twitter…..
“Many of us feel furious about the state of the UK’s rivers – but also powerless. Now https://twitter.com/kcllegalclinic have launched a 130-pp toolkit for change. Citizen science, FOI’s, reporting, legal remedies: it’s all here. It’s brilliant. Read it, share it, fight back!”
For if the Tweet disappears (they do some times!)…..
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/legal-clinic/assets/rights-of-nature-toolkit.pdf
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A Different World?....
On my Father’s side of the family I have no idea who my Great-aunts & Uncles were – there will have been some for sure, as we are a fertile family - but I have no idea who my Roper Great-aunts & Uncles were. I remember, in my early teens, going to visit an Aunt & Uncle of my Father – who will have been my Great-aunt & Uncle. My Great-aunt read tea-leaves and she described in detail the entrance to a building which would play an important part in my life. A few years later – it turned out to be the entrance to the main building of the university I attended. I only remember that one visit – to a small cottage with no running water or electricity and a box-bed next to the fireplace – a different world – and I have no idea where that house was/is.
On my Mother’s side of the family, I have no idea at all of Grandpa Kelly’s siblings.
I have a vague memory as a small child of being taken to visit either one, or there might have been two, old ladies in a house in the nearest village to our family farm. They were Bretts , my Grand-ma’s maiden name being Brett. One of my sisters said of the Bretts …”There’s rakes o’ them - and they’re all priests and nuns.” In which case, maybe they didn’t have descendants!
Note that ‘rakes’ in Ireland can be used to mean a lot of something!
Compared to that situation – I’m in contact with Great-nieces and Great-nephews – a Great-great niece ‘liked’ something on my Facebook page! A different world in a different kind of way.
We don’t live near each other, but are in contact thanks to modern technology. Those families in the past – some stayed close to home, but many had to leave – “When the shadow of poverty darkened our door, we left Mother and Ireland because we were poor.” And communication was much more difficult back then.
A few years ago a long-lost relative contacted me from America in search of his ancestors and I was able to give him email addresses for family in Ireland who would be able to give him more information than I can.
There’s the tale of Eynhallow/Canada…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/11/26/bernie-bell-orkney-walks-with-stories-eynhallow-to-canada-2/
Some family members disappeared without trace – two of my nephews have chosen to drift away from my personal radar. Maybe not so different after all – maybe just people, being people – they stay in touch if they choose to - or not.
I’ll post this on my FB page - that’s one advantage of Facebook – if people want to check on their family, but remain incommunicado – they can ‘Google’ a name and - there they are!
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‘Darwin’s Warm Little Pond’….
A very different world – but still our world….
https://earthlogs.org/2024/01/27/darwins-warm-little-pond-a-new-discovery/
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